There are various tobacco shredder or grinder products on the market, that allow rough tobacco leaves to be ground into a fine material for suitable use in a pipe or rolling paper, or other device. However, these shredders suffer from a design flaw that prevents storage of shredded tobacco and ease of use of the stored tobacco.
Producing rolled cigarettes or tobacco for a pipe requires that the tobacco is finely ground and of generally uniform size, to allow for even and smooth burning of the tobacco. Smokers have utilized numerous tools to grind tobacco, including mortar and pestle and crushing tobacco leaves by hand, to create suitable smoking material. By the turn of the 20th century, consumers demanded more appropriate tools for grinding of their tobacco.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 854,384 issued in 1907 utilized a bag and two opposite faces roughened or serrated into which dried tobacco leaves may be inserted. By applying pressure to the opposing faces, the dried tobacco leaves may be ground into a size suitable for rolling into cigarettes or for smoking in a pipe.
Subsequently, further development of tobacco grinders included U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,363, which teaches a tobacco grinder with a top and bottom half that come together to form an internal cavity having a grinding shaft. When the top half is rotated relative to the lower half, the grinding shaft rotates to grind the dried tobacco leaves within the internal cavity. After the tobacco is ground, it is passed through a sieve into a cap where it is held until the user is ready to smoke it.
Additional grinders utilize three cavities and comprise a top cap and a bottom cap. The top half of the first cavity is formed by the top cap. A plurality of grinding knives protrudes from the top cap. The bottom half of the first cavity also has a plurality of grinding knives and several large holes that lead into the second cavity. The second cavity has a screen that leads into the third cavity. The bottom half of the third cavity is formed by the bottom cap of the grinder.
A dried tobacco leaf is placed inside the first cavity. The top cap is then rotated relative to the rest of the grinder allowing the grinding knives to cut, grind, or shred the tobacco into smaller pieces. The smaller tobacco pieces the pass through the large holes into the second cavity and then through the screen into the third cavity. The pieces in the second cavity can then be directed back to the first cavity for further grinding. The ground tobacco in the third cavity is collected in the bottom cap which is removed by the user when ready to smoke.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,422,170 was issued in 2008 and teaches a tobacco grinder that is very similar to the a tobacco grinder as described above except that the grinding knives protrude from two separate grinding plates that are separate and independent parts that are removable from the rest of the grinder. This configuration allows the grinding plates, thus the grinding knives, to be manufactured separately and of different material as the rest of the grinder so as to reduce the cost of manufacturing.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,393,563 describes a similar tobacco grinder that further includes a viewing window to allow a user to determine how much tobacco has been ground.
U.S. App. Serial No. 2013/0015278 is a grinder much like the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,393,563, but having no window for viewing the ground product.
However, one of the frequent issues with these grinders is that the fall patterns or screens used to aid in grinding the material clog easily, and this often wastes some of the ground product. Furthermore, because of the configuration of the grinder and any reservoir, it is difficult to pour the ground product into a small device for use. Indeed, it is often preferable to dump the material into a larger container or onto a magazine or other foldable paper, so that the material can then be appropriately placed, with particularity, into a device for use.
In view of the problems associated with current grinders or shredders, there remains a need in the marketplace for an improved grinder or shredder, and reservoir device that provides for consistent and even shredding of a material, but provides for a suitable reservoir that provides for easy use and dispensing of the shredded or ground material.